wasn't sure just who to send this to, but noticed on the bb that you guys were discussing how to promote sell the forest vinyl, so i thought i'd share a few names & addresses that i found were helpful when putting out my EP. hope they help:

FatCat Records: Demos, FC Records, PO BOX 3400, Brighton BN1 4WG (FatCat have a Demo section on their website, where they link to people who they like but don’t have the time/money to release. I think this is cool.)

* Avalanche (Edinburgh & Glasgow) – will take 5 on SoR, taking 20%
* Elvis Shakespeare (Edinburgh) – will take 5-10 on SoR, you get 100% profit, they take 1 CD – they are good at promoting you etc.
* Mono – Glasgow, though they may stop soon
* Fopp – might take a few

Things I found worked well:

1. Make an internet site/myspace where you can download 3 or 4 tracks for free. Don’t tell anyone about it other than bloggers who you want to write something about you. The lure of free mp3s for them is often enough to prompt them to write something nice. Good ones I found are songbytoad.com, 17seconds, lotsofrandomwords, and The Daily Growl. These sites often have links to other blogs, so it’s just a matter of trawling through them, finding ones that write about similar music, and then sending the blogger a nice email with the promise of free mp3s.
2. Look at bands who have got a lot of reviews and try and find contact details for magazines/websites that have been receptive to them, yet aren’t huge (like Mojo, or the NME or whatever). These kind of reviewers are often surprisingly receptive.
3. Radio play seems pretty difficult when you’re doing it yourself.
4. Don’t send out the cd’s in full packaging…I made 20 ‘promo’ copies with handmade packaging, which saved loads of money